Recording Biomedical Data on Chain is now Possible — Interview with the CEO of Innovative Bioresearch and INNBC Token

This time around we are talking to Dr. Jonathan Fior. He is the CEO of Innovative Bioresearch and INNBC token.

Chris: The concept for Dapp sounds interesting. Please share what more can the Dapp do in assisting medicine and business?

Dr. Jonathan: Sure. We developed a DApp (available at https://database.innovativebioresearch.com/) to record biomedical data on chain. The interface is very simple. You just input the text you wish to record in the input field, press a button, sign the transaction, and the data is permanently recorded on chain. Now, what kind of data can be recorded? In addition to plain text, by using base64 encoding, you can also record images, audio and video on chain. This is meant for recording biomedical data, and we have an upcoming peer reviewed publication in which we tested the DApp analyzing costs and limitations for storing biomedical data on chain; however, you can also record any kind of data for your business. Why is this so useful? Because you can take full advantage of the unique features of a blockchain such as immutability and timestamp. Once recorded on chain, the data is permanently recorded and cannot be altered nor deleted, ensuring that no one is going to tamper with it. And scientific data must never be altered. The timestamp is very useful to provide us with a proof of when the data was generated, which in turn can also provide a proof of authorship by including authorship information on chain, and the wallet that generated the transaction can be linked to the author. This can also be useful for many fields in addition to science. Let’s think about an artist wanting to generate an undeniable proof of authorship for protecting his work. He could record his images on chain, even a lower resolution version of his work for saving on transaction fees, and the timestamp would prove that the image was recorded on chain for the first time by the author. This process is made very easy by our DApp.

Chris: Briefly, please describe the SupT1 therapy in HIV treatment. What does it aim to resolve?

Dr. Jonathan: The infusion of irradiated SupT1 cells, which we call “SupT1 cell infusion therapy” is being tested as an HIV treatment by our company. We discovered that SupT1 cells have the potential to act as a decoy target for the HIV virus, protecting the patient cells from the virus infection. This happens because the virus goal is not to cause the death of the patient, but rather to find the best path of survival. By providing the virus with an external set of cells that are more permissive to the infection, the virus preferentially infects such cells instead of the patient cells. This can be imagined like a lion that during his hunt will preferentially target the weaker individuals in a group such as the young individuals because it will pose a lesser danger to him than attacking the adults. Similarly, it will be easier for the virus to infect SupT1 cells rather than the patient cells. This happens for several reasons. SupT1 cells are more immature with respect to normal T cells and do not have some defense mechanisms such as APOBEC3G, posing less obstacles for viral infection. SupT1 cells also express a greater number of CD4 and CXCR4 receptors, which are the receptors used by the virus for entering the cells, making them easier to infect. The interesting phenomenon is that by replicating in SupT1 cells, the viral evolution pushes the virus to become progressively less cytopathic and more sensitive to neutralization, the opposite of what usually happens with traditional drug treatment. This can be explained because the virus strives to survive, and while SupT1 cells provide the virus with an escape path in which it can survive, so that a peaceful coexistence between virus and patient becomes possible, the traditional drug based treatment induces the virus to put up a big fight for surviving, which can result in the development of very aggressive and drug resistant HIV strains, especially in the terminal stage of the disease, and in such cases cART becomes ineffective. SupT1 cells have therefore the potential to induce a strong vaccination effect, by making the virus less aggressive, and to be more effective in the later stages of HIV infection, in which the traditional drug based therapy loses its effectiveness in preventing AIDS. Furthermore, being a cell based treatment there is no organ related toxicity as no chemical compound is being injected in the patient. Notably, the cost of SupT1 cell based therapy is expected to be substantially cheaper than traditional drug based therapy, allowing access to the therapy where access to traditional HIV therapies is restricted by economic and social limitations. The social and economical impacts of a low cost HIV cure solution would be enormous. In a previous study we tested SupT1 cells infusion therapy in humanized mice. Our study showed that significantly lower viral replication (~10-fold) and potentially preserved CD4+ T cell frequency at Week 1 was scored in animals treated with SupT1 cell infusion. Of note, one animal exhibited a sustained decrease in HIV replication and CD4+ T cell depletion (no virus detected anymore at Weeks 3 and 4), a result that may hold the key to future HIV treatments. Given the urgent and global need for a cost effective cure for HIV, we believe that the millions of people infected by this terrible disease deserve highly innovative HIV cure research strategies, such as SupT1 cell infusion therapy. The INNBC token will be the main currency used to access our therapy.

Chris: Alright, so there are many things you aim to achieve through this token. When is the planned token release date?

Dr. Jonathan: INNBC token has already being issued during 2018, and it is currently traded in several exchanges, the main one being the BigOne global crypto exchange.

Chris: Additionally, what will be the expected price of the cryptocurrency? How much will you be charging as a fee?

Dr. Jonathan: We do not really like to make price estimations, but the current price is surely on the low side of the spectrum, and we therefore expect some substantial grow as we develop and release our products on the market.

Chris: Similarly, do you have any minting limit per wallet?

Dr. Jonathan: INNBC is a Defi-Science project where some additional tokens can be issued to support the development of our pharmaceutical products, as well as for traditional Defi features such as staking, farming, lending.

Chris: Moreover, how is the token backed? In other words, do you have any renowned collaborations in the field of medicine?

Dr. Jonathan: The research we are developing is very valuable. The actual value of an effective HIV cure can be estimated as billions of revenue generated annually. In science, everything is based on peer reviewed scientific publications, and INNBC is the first token to produce scientific studies. As such, at the current stage we can say that INNBC is backed by our peer reviewed scientific studies, which are all indexed and available on pubmed:

Fior, J. An initial in vitro investigation into the potential therapeutic use of SupT1 cells to prevent AIDS in HIV-seropositive individuals. PLoS ONE. 2012;7(5):e37511. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3359297/

Fior J. Is a pacific coexistence between virus and host the unexploited path that may lead to an HIV functional cure? Viruses. 2013;5(2):7537.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23430684

Fior J. Salamander regeneration as a model for developing novel regenerative and anticancer therapies. J Cancer. 2014;5(8):715-9.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/25258653

Fior J. SupT1 Cell Infusion as a Possible Cell-Based Therapy for HIV: Results from a Pilot Study in HuPBMC BRGS Mice. Vaccines. 2016;4(2):13. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/27128948

In addition to the pharmacologic products in development, we just released our DApp for biomedical research, which we believe greatly contributes to the project value.

Chris: In the end, please tell us where to get the latest updates on Innovative Bio Research cryptocurrency?

Dr. Jonathan: All the latest updates and news can be found by following our social channels, especially Twitter, which are linked on our website.